Almost Half of Marketers Fear for Long-Term Job Security

With the number of unemployed workers available for jobs at its highest level since December 2020, and UK inflation predicted to remain above government targets until 2025, Britain's marketers are feeling uncertain about their future with 71% fearing for the security of their job, according to research from SurveyMonkey.

This year poses a unique challenge for businesses and their employees as companies look to cut budgets and employees as solutions to weather economic uncertainty, finding ways to do more with less. Over half (58%) of British marketers believe this year could be worse for the long-term health of their business than the COVID-19 pandemic with a third (33%) feeling nervous about the survival of their business past the next year.

Squeezed budgets lead businesses to do more with less

Set against a challenging economic backdrop with high levels of business uncertainty, employees are bearing the brunt of businesses' budget cuts. As businesses look to cut their spending, they are downsizing not just budgets, but whole departments and teams. This is being felt by marketing teams, with almost half (44%) feeling that their department's team and budget have been cut in the past 12 months. In fact, over a quarter (29%) believe that up to 25% of staff have been let go in the past year.

Despite many feeling the squeeze of a reduced budget and team, 43% claim their department is expected to provide the same amount of work with reduced resources, while a quarter (25%) claim their department is expected to provide more work.

AI is seen as an important tool in marketers futures

Just when economic uncertainty is causing businesses to tighten their belts, AI technology, such as generative AI tools like ChatGPT, are allowing for optimisations to be made and business costs reduced.

While more than a fourth (29%) of marketers believe that AI poses a direct threat to their job and could make their role redundant, the majority (71%) don't see AI as a threat. In fact, nearly half (49%) believe that AI would be able to handle part of their day-to-day tasks. Some marketers who believe that AI may impact the workplace have an optimistic view, with 37% believing that while AI will replace some human roles, it will also create new jobs that don't yet exist. Over half (57%) also note that AI is essential to the long term survival of their business.

Cormac Kelly, Senior Director of Customer Success EMEA, SurveyMonkey says, "Businesses are continuing to have to make difficult decisions in a difficult economy to drive profitability, and marketers are feeling the pressure in the demands of the job. With many marketers having to work with reduced budgets and teams, it's important that business leaders ensure that their employees feel valued, appreciated, and heard. Gathering and acting upon feedback from stakeholders, including employees and customers alike, can ensure that marketers feel valued in the workplace and are able to deliver impactful results for customers."

Methodology:

This SurveyMonkey study was conducted between March 30 - April 7, 2023 among a national sample of 841 adults in the UK, 736 in the Netherlands and 743 in Ireland. Respondents for this survey were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on our platform each day. The modelled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points for the UK, and plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the Netherlands and Ireland. Sampling was balanced for age, sex, and geography using demographic data from the United Nations to reflect the demographic compositions of each country.

About SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a global leader in online surveys and forms that empowers people with the insights they need to make decisions with speed and confidence. Our fast, intuitive feedback management platform connects millions of users worldwide with real-time AI-powered insights that drive meaningful decisions. We provide answers to more than 20 million questions every day so that people and organisations can attract new audiences, delight customers, create advocates, and extend their competitive advantage in the marketplace. Our vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices. Learn more at surveymonkey.co.uk.